The present invention relates to a holder for a paper roll, preferably a roll of soft paper, with which the paper web forming the roll is drawn from the holder in the direction of the roll axis and separated from the roll against a tear edge located in the proximity of one edge part of the paper roll.
There are essentially two types of paper roll holders available at present on the market, e.g. toilet paper holders and holders for household paper. With the first type of holder, the paper is laid in the holder and drawn horizontally therefrom. One drawback with this type of holder, illustrated for example in DE-OS-No. 2552444, is that the paper must be drawn from the holder relatively slowly, in order to prevent the roll from rotating initially too quickly, such as to form a loose length of paper within the holder. A further drawback is that the paper web is drawn from the holder horizontally, which means that the paper must be pulled in a direction that lies substantially at right angles to the axis of the roll, therewith to ensure that the pulling force exerted on the paper web drawn from the holder is not so unevenly distributed as to cause the paper web to be torn unintentionally. Consequently, the holder must be placed in a position suitable herefor, which is often difficult to achieve.
With the second type of holder the paper roll is held vertically, with one end surface of the roll resting on the bottom of the holder. In this case the paper web is drawn downwardly from the centre of the paper roll in the direction of the roll axis, with the roll held stationary in the holder. The drawbacks associated with the first type of holder are thus not found with the second type of holder. However, this second type of holder, illustrated for example in Swedish Patent Specification No. 304 363, is encumbered with the drawback that because the paper roll remains stationary while drawing the paper web therefrom, the web becomes twisted, sometimes to such an exaggerated extend that it can only be separated from the roll with great difficulty, for example by applying powerful tugging forces. Once separated from the remainder of the roll, the paper web has to be smoothed out before it can be used, which can be both laborious and inconvenient.